of jam & toast, and a sad story

Warning...This is going to be a super long post!


Before I move on to talk about my jam and toast, I would like to share with you a little story, within a story...



It was a Saturday evening, we were resting on the couch to unwind from a long afternoon...we just completed a 'marathon session'...revising for the upcoming mid-year exams! I picked up the newspapers and half way through my browsing, a one-quarter page advertorial caught my attention. It was a sad and touching story about a son and his mother. I passed the papers to my younger child who was sitting right beside me. After reading, I could see from his expressions that he felt sad. Before I could say anything, he commented, "妈妈，因为他没有学弟子规！". （translated as: Ma Ma, It is because, he didn't learn "Di Zi Gui/Student's Rules. ) I was really amused by his comments. We passed the story to his brother who was half buried in his story book. He read and agreed with his brother and continued to bury himself in his book. It was a surprise when I saw my younger child re-read the story again. I studied him with great interest...I could see his pupils moving from left to right...stopping briefly at certain paragraphs or texts. I then realised that he was reading some of the lines just to confirm what he interpreted was correct. He put down the papers and said "他真的很bad!（He is really bad!) How can he said that to his mother?"; "He didn't even cry when his mother passed away!". He was very upset with the son.

By now, I am sure you are interested to read about the story. It goes like this:

A son hated her mother...to him, she was such an embarrassment. When he was in elementary school, his mother went to say hello to him in school. He was so embarrassed that he ignored her and threw her a hateful look and ran away. The next day, one of his classmates said, "EEEE, your mom only has one eye!". He confronted her that day and said, "If you're only gonna make me a laughing stock, why don't you just die?!!!"

His mom did not respond. He didn't even stop to think for a second about what he had said, because he was full of anger. He was oblivious to her feelings. He wanted out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So he studied real hard, got a chance to go to Singapore to study. Then, he got married, bought a house and had kids. He was happy with his life, his kids and the comforts.

Then one day, his mother came to visit him. She hadn't seen him in years and she didn't even meet her grandchildren. When she stood by the door, his children laughed at her, and he yelled at her for coming over uninvited. He screamed at her, "How dare you come to my house and scare my children! Get out of here now!!!" And to this, his mother quietly answered, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared out of sight.

One day, he receivied a letter regarding a school reunion. He decided to attend the reunion back at his home town. After the reunion, he went to the old shack where he was raised, just out of curiosity. His neighbours told him she died. He did not shed a single tear. They handed him a letter which she had left for him. This is what she wrote:

"My dearest son,
I think of you all the time. I'm sorry that I came to Singapore and scared your children. I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you.

I'm sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up. You see........when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I gave you mine. I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye.

With my love to you,
Your mother."

I am glad that 弟子规 Di Zi Gui is included in their school's curriculum. 弟子规 Di Zi Gui, or "Students' Rules" documents the standards for being a good student and child. The full set of rules comprises 1080 characters. The verses are very profound, teaching and imparting morals and good virtues to children. In summary, this set of rules teaches a child to show filial piety at home, respect the elders, behave prudently and trustfully, love all universally, and draw close to sages; when one has energy to spare, he should study edification by the sage. My favourite rules (since they are really to my great advantage) are:

父母呼 应勿缓...when parents call, don't be slow to respond;
父母命 行勿懒...when parents give an order, act, don't be lazy;
父母教 须敬听...when parents teach, one must listen with respect;　
父母责 须顺承...when parents reprimand, one must accept.

The following day, it was Mother's Day. It was a usual weekend, just like any other Sundays. We didn't celebrate the occasion, although I did asked my kids where were my presents! One pretended he didn't hear anything...the other one declared that he had already given it to me (my birthday gift)!

Even though there were no cakes, flowers or cards, it still warms my heart to know that my children are able to understand some of morals and teachings behind the 弟子规 Di Zi Gui. Although it is too early to judge whether they are going to be a good person later in in their lives, for the time being, I choose to think that they would not go down the wrong path, at least not too soon.

Now, back to my jam and toast...

About the toast:

I have not been making bread as frequently as I like. As a result, my recent bread-making attempts did not turn out as expected. I made a loaf of focaccia which was like a piece of cardboard...I added too much wholemeal flour, so, instead of bread I had bricks.

Then I made this loaf bread. I divided the dough into two portions and kneaded one tablespoon of instant coffee powder to one of them. The two doughs rose nicely during the first proofing. I shaped the loaf and left it to proof the second time. It took way too long to rise up to the brim of the baking pan...as I was running out of time, I sent it into the oven...hoping the 'oven spring' would cause the bread to expand a little bit more. The bread didn't balloon much, and in the end I had a rather short bread. The texture was not as soft and light as my previous attempt. I suspect I could have killed the yeast with the warm water I used to mix the dough :'(

About the jam:

I made this papaya and banana jam a couple of weeks ago. I must say it tasted better than its look. I should have mashed up the fruits before cooking to get a smoother jam, it looked more like salsa than jam to me. I kept the bottle of jam in the fridge...trying to deny its existence.

As for the loaf bread, it looked better than its taste. Other than the colour, I couldn't taste any coffee flavour in the bread! The bread was tasteless on its own. I tried it with peanut butter, the taste was so so. Then, I remembered my salsa-lookalike jam. I paired the two together and it was an instant hit! Almost like a match from heaven...the two were meant for each other, just waiting for the opportunity to cross each others paths...the pretty but plain toast became delicious when slapped generously with the ugly but yummy jam ;)

I won't be posting any recipes here as I am sure no one will be interested to make either one of these two!

Olive and Bacon Fougasse

Although it is almost close to two months since I last wrote a post on bread-making, I had actually been baking bread on a regular basis. I keep going back to the usual recipes that I am familiar with. The ever tasty and soft Hokkaido Milky loaf, the very versatile Milk loaf, and the savoury Bacon and Cheese loafare some of the few regulars on our breakfast table.


After taking a short hiatus from baking, I thought I should get out of my comfort zone to try something new. I have been keeping this fougasse recipe since I borrowed this book from the library. I have seen this pretty bread from several cookbooks, but as it is a French bread, most of the recipes I came across require it to be made with a starter. I was happy to be able to find a recipe that uses a straight dough method.


Fougasse, originated from Provence, is a type of flat bread filled with olives, bacon, onion or herbs, not very different from the Italian Focaccia. It can also be made like a calzone, with fillings stuff inside the pockets made by folding over the dough. For the flat bread version, it is often shaped and slashed to resemble a leaf or the tree of life.


Base on the cookbook, the same dough recipe can be used for making focaccia or pizza. Since we have only 1A2C at home, I halved the original recipe and also added some dried mixed herbs to give it more flavour. I followed the instructions to roll out the dough into 5mm thickness. As a result, the fougasse turn out to be very thin and crispy. I was expecting something much thicker :(


I do not know how fougasse should taste like since this is the first time I have ever tasted it. Although I like the flavourful savoury taste, I would prefer a thicker bread instead of a crunchy texture, it was almost like eating some bread sticks! Well, at least I was compensated with the lovely and distinctive aroma emitting from the black olives and bacon when the bread was baking in the oven.

To enjoy the bread, I served it with cream of mushroom soup. Upon cooling, the bread hardened and it was so crispy that my kids broke it into pieces and drop them into their soup, just like croutons ^_^"'

I have posted the recipe here for those who are intersted to give a try. However, I would remind myself not to roll the dough too thin the next I were to make them again.


Olive and Bacon Fougasse

Ingredients

150g bread flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs (optional)
90 ml water
1 tablespoon olive oil

5 black olives, coarsely chopped
2 strips of bacon, cut into small strips


Method

1. Stir bread flour, instant yeast, salt and dried mixed herbs(if using) in a mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre and add in olive oil and water. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form into a dough.
3. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Knead until the dough no longer sticks to your hand, becomes smooth and elastic. This should take about 20 mins. (Note: the dough is a little on the dry side.)
4. Add black olives and bacon strips, knead till the ingredients are well mixed for about 5 mins. (Note: due to the moisture in the olives and bacon, the dough will become slightly sticky and wet. Dust lightly with some flour and continue to knead and the dough will become smooth and elastic again.)
5. Place dough in a lightly greased (with olive oil) mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof in room temperature (around 28 ~ 30 degC) for about one hour, or until double in bulk.
6. Remove the dough from the bowl and give a few light kneading to press out the gas in the dough. Divide dough into two equal portions. Smooth into rounds, cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let them rest for 10 ~ 15 mins.
7. On a lightly floured work surface, flatten each dough into a round disc, roll the dough from the centre to the edges to form a tear-drop shape, with thickness of 5mm (1/4"). (Note: for thicker bread, roll out to at least 10mm (1/2") thick). Place dough on a baking tray, well greased or lined with parchment paper.
8. For each dough, with a pastry scrapper or a knife, make two vertical slits in the centre (or just 1 long slit, as desired). Make three slanted slits on both sides of the vertical slits. Gently pull the slits apart to shape the dough to resemble a leaf.
9. Cover with damp cloth or cling wrap and leave doughs to proof for the second time for about 20 ~ 30mins. Brush dough lightly with some olive oil and sprinkle sparingly with some sea salt (optional).
10. Bake in pre-heated oven at 220 deg C for 18 ~ 20 mins or until golden brown.
    
    Recipe source:adapted from 爱上做面包, 德永久美子

Cooking with Rosemary

Before I stepped into the world of blogging, I have never cooked anything with herbs. I don't even use local Asian ones, not even Chinese parsley's or spring onions commonly available in the wet markets here. I am totally clueless when it comes to herbs and spices. It was only recently that I started adding some dried mixed herbs to ready-made pasta sauce, and have since ventured into cooking with fresh herbs.


I have chosen to use rosemary as my first fresh herb in cooking and baking...just so that I can make a Rosemary & Garlic Focaccia bread ;) When I first placed a sprig of fresh rosemary under my nose, I didn't really like the smell of it at all! It was only when the loaf of bread was baking in the oven, the distinct aroma from the rosemary filled my entired kitchen...this herb has since won my heart.


I made another loaf of rosemary focaccia last week. Once again, I was attracted to a recipe by the beautiful photo of the bread baked in a rustic looking skillet. Since I don't have a proper skillet to bake this bread, and even if I have one, it won't fit into my small oven, I halved the recipe and used a 20cm round pan to do the job...hoping I could duplicate the effect effortlessly ;)


Although this Italian bread was baked beautifully to a golden hue, taste wise I much prefer the first one I tried...maybe that one has got garlic in it, making it a winner compared to this one. Nevertheless, the crusty bread tasted really good on it's own when served warm and freshly baked. It should go really well alongside a bowl of clear soup or salad. If they were left over night, toast them a little just before serving to crisp it up. By the way, this recipe calls for proofing the dough not just twice, by three times, making it a light an airy bread.


The first dish I cooked with rosemary was roast chicken. I experimented with chicken thighs as my family would not be able to finish a whole chicken. This time I made roasted chicken wings instead. The wings were rubbed all over with some salt, pepper, chopped rosemary, some dried mixed herbs and lemon rind, and left to marinate over night. Half an hour before I was ready to roast the wings, I took them out from the fridge and rub with some cold butter all over, before baking at 200degC for about 45mins~1hr. I must say I prefer roasted chicken thighs than wings, as they are more meaty and juicy...although both types of chicken parts roasted in this manner yield nice, crispy & yummy skin.


With the leftover rosemary sprigs, I made this very simple and yet very very delicious oven-roasted Rosemary Potatoes. These were baked by adapting a recipe by Jamie Oliver. If you love potatoes, I strongly recommend that you give this a try...I am certain you will be rewarded with a tray of potatoes that are slightly crispy on the outside and yet fluffy on the inside.


Rosemary & Olive Oil Focaccia
(make one small loaf)

Ingredients

250g bread flour
3.5g instant yeast
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 tablespoon sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling
137.5 ml water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

Method:

1. Combine flour, yeast rosemary and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the water and oil. Mix with hand to form a soft dough.
2. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 ~ 10 mins until the dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Shape in to a ball and place in an oiled mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for 1 hour or until double in bulk.
4. Knock back the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to form a round. Press the dough into a 20cm (8") round pan. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for 1 hour.
5. Using your fingers, press indentations over the dough. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for a final 30mins until well risen.
6. Sprinkle dough with a little sea salt, drizzle with a little oil and scatter over some rosemary.
7. Bake in a preheated over at 200degC for about 25mins until risen and golden.
8. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.

Recipe source: adapted from Fresh Baked by Louise Pickford

Red Bean Braided Bread

A few nights ago, as usual, just before bedtime, my little one snuggled up beside me...him pretending to fall asleep, and me enjoying some 'quiet moments', flipping through a cookbook I got hold from the library. By the time I got almost to the end of the book, I came across the photo of a braided bread. After reading through the instructions I thought I should give it a try as I have not tried shaping this kind of loaf before. Even though there were no illustrations accompanying the instructions, I was quite confident that I knew what it meant.


I didn't use the recipe from that bread machine cookbook as it was meant for a large loaf. So I went back to this basic sweet bun recipe which apparently was quite well received by a few bloggers who have tried it. For the filling it was none other than red bean paste since I have got a can from Daiso recently.


I used my bread maker to knead the dough as I wasn't really in the mood to do any kneading manually. I set the machine to knead for at least 30mins before letting the dough to proof at room temperature. On hindsight, I should have let the dough proof in the machine, as the weather was quite gloomy and cool, it didn't double in size until 2 hrs later. Thankfully it was one of those rare occasion when I was enjoying a rather leisurely afternoon, and I could afford the time to let it proof forever.


Making the plaits was rather uneventful...something which I didn't expect, as I thought it would be quite a difficult task, although I must admit that the dough was a little soft to handle. The only difficult part was trying to transfer the braided dough onto the baking sheet...I have only myself to blame as I was too lazy to flour my table top before rolling out the dough. I can't remember ever since when I have developed this bad habit?! All else went well, and for once, my elder boy commented that the plaited dough looked very pretty...yes, he actually praised me. I don't know about you, but that was a real big pat on the shoulder.

I must have mentioned several times before that I do not like the glossy appearance on the surface of my bread...so I ignored the egg wash completely and simply sprinkled sesame seeds over the surface just before baking. To save myself from the agony of hovering over the oven the entire time the bread was baking, I set the alarm clock and went about to do my chores.


When the baking time was up, I was so pleased to see two nicely puffed up braided bread. There is nothing more satisfying than breathing in the sweet smell of freshly homemade loaves!


Not unlike all my previous postings...I shall end this post with a short review on the taste and texture of this bread. Here's the verdict: I like the slight crisp on the crust and the texture was quite soft. The taste was almost similar to those red bean buns available at the neighbourhood bakery shops. I find the canned red bean paste a little too sweet for my liking, but the sweetness was just right for my kids' palette ;)


Ingredients:
(make 2 small loaves)

150g bread flour
150g cake flour
5g active dry yeast (I used instant yeast)
3g salt
125g milk (I used low-fat fresh milk)
1 egg
60g caster sugar
50g butter

Filling:
red bean paste
white sesame seeds for topping

Method:

Kneading by Bread maker:

1. Place all ingredients into the bread pan according to the sequence as stated in the bread maker. Set to DOUGH function.
2. Let the machine run for the first 10 mins. Turn off machine, re-start and set to DOUGH function again. Let the machine complete the kneading cycle (20 mins).
3. Remove dough from bread plan, smooth into a round ball and place it in a lightly greased mixing bowl. Cover with a damp towel or cling wrap. Allow the dough to rise until double in bulk. This will take about 1~1.5 hrs.
4. Take out the dough and punch out the gas produced. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. Divide the dough into two equal portions. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough into a rectangle, about 12 by 9 inches. Spread red bean paste in a 2~3 inch strip lengthwise down the centre.
5. On each side of the filling, make 1~1.5 inch wide diagonal cuts in the dough. Starting at the top, fold dough strips over filling, alternating left and right sides. Seal the seams tightly. Repeat the same for the other portion. Transfer both dough on a greased baking tray (or lined with parchment paper), cover with a clean towel and leave to rise for about 45mins.
6. Glaze with a little beaten egg and a drop of milk (or water). I omitted this step.
7. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for about 30~35 minutes in a preheated oven at 180 degC until golden brown. Let cool on wire rack.

Kneading by hand:

• Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, make a well in the centre. Add in milk, egg and butter. Mix into a dough.
• Place dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until the gluten is fully developed and the dough is elastic, smooth and non-sticky. It will take about 25~30 mins to knead the dough by hand. Initially the dough will stick on to the work surface. Do not be tempted to add more flour. After continuous kneading, the dough will no longer stick to the work surface.
• Continue from step 3 above.

Back to Routine

After an exciting and fun-filled school holidays, now that the kids are back to school, things are back to normal. My 2 boys and I are trying to adapt to the new set of routines. Although they are now in the same school, they are attending different sessions. They don't get to see each other until dinner time. They have been complaining that they didn't get a chance to play together much. Poor me, I have to double up as their playmates during their individual free time. Which means I have little time to pursue my own interest :( On the other hand, I do like this kind of "1 to 1" arrangement as I can devote my full attention on just one child at a time.

In between my free time, I tried getting back to my usual baking session. It took me two attempts to come up with this alien-looking loaf of bread which I have named as the Nutella Twist bread:


On my first attempt, I set my bread machine to the dough setting to do the kneading and proofing. I got the machine to knead for another 20mins after the standard kneading cycle had completed, since the dough didn't pass the pane test. So after the machine has stopped, even thought the dough has doubled in size, it became very sticky after I tried knocking it down. Anyway, I went ahead to add the filling as I wanted to give it a try. Alas, it didn't work out as what I expected, and looking at the disastrous mess I have made, I decided to throw away the dough :'(

The following day, I set off to make this same bread again. This time, I tried kneading by hand...it was 6.45am in the morning when I started preparing the ingredients. My little one woke up early and offered his help...but he got bored halfway and went off to play on his own! By the time I finished kneading, it was almost 7.30am.

When the dough doubled in size an hour later, I started shaping it. I rolled the dough to a huge rectangle, as big as I could get. Then cut into half, lengthwise, and spread Nutella over the two doughs before rolling each dough lengthwise, swiss-roll style. The two longish rolls were then twisted together. While I was doing the twisting, my younger boy came over and asked me whether I was making ramen?! The twisted dough was then placed in a lightly greased round cake pan and left to proof.

It's apparent that I didn't make enough twist and turns, as a result, the curls and swirls look horrendous! I didn't achieve the nice crown effect at all and the end result was an ugly loaf of bread, lolz!

I have adapted the same milk loaf recipe to make it easier to measure out the ingredients. Fortunately, the adjustment didn't seems to affect the texture of the bread. The bread was as soft and light despite its not too pleasing exterior.



Ingredient

25g caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
250g bread flour
1 teaspoon Instant yeast
120ml fresh milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
30g butter (unsalted)


Method:

1. Place caster sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast into a mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients with hand. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Pour the lightly beaten egg and milk into the well. Mix the ingredients to form a soft dough. Add some bread flour if the mixture is too wet.
2. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for about 5 mins until the dough becomes smooth and non-sticky. Knead and mix in the butter into the dough.
3. Continue to knead dough for another 15mins (or longer) until it becomes smooth, elastic and no longer sticks to hand and work surface.
4. Smooth the dough into a round ball. Let it rise in room temperature in a mixing bowl, covered with cling wrap. Let dough rise for 60mins or until it double in bulk.
5. Remove dough and punch out the gas. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a huge rectangle. Cut the dough into half, lengthwise, and spread Nutella over each piece of dough, leaving a border of about 1cm along the edges.
6. Roll each dough lengthwise, swiss-roll style, pinch the dough to seal the seam tightly. Place the two rolls together and twist them together. Loop the rope in a lightly greased 20cm (8in) round pan and press the ends together to seal.
7. Cover with cling wrap and let the dough proof for the second time for about 45~60 mins.
8. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180 ~ 190 deg C for 30 to 35mins.
9. Unmould the bread immediately when removed from the oven. Let cool completely before slicing.

A Year of Home Baking

One year has already past since I first started this blog.

This was my intention when I first started this blog:
I hope I am able to get ideas and suggestions from fellow home bakers to improve my baking skills. At the same time I hope my creations and little experiments would also inspire others, who are like me, to start baking as a hobby.

Blogging is all about sharing. It is a wonderful platform for people who have got common interests to learn from one and other; to share and exchange ideas and experiences. So, I will like to thank everyone of you who have stopped by, and taken time to read and comment, and not forgetting all those who have linked me up. Thank you for sharing your experiences, and for walking alongside with me on my baking journey. I greatly appreciate your encouraging words, the exchange of ideas and information which has really helped me tremendously in improving my baking skills.

Indeed it was a whole year of home baking, from muffins to cookies and from cakes to bread. Thanks to all the wonderful food bloggers out there, I have tried and attempted many recipes that I wouldn't imagine I would ever be capable to come up with if not for their generous sharing of recipes and experiences. I am always so overwhelmed and inspired by their creativity and talents.

It also didn't occur to me that baking and photography actually come hand in hand in this blogging world. I have not taken a single photo of food before I started my baking journey. So it's a bonus that I am now slowly acquiring the skill of taking food photos. On top of that, my cooking skill has definitely improved by an inch!


I should have baked a cake to mark this special occasion, but instead I made something I have all along been wanting to do ever since I made my first loaf of bread. Yes, it's a focaccia bread. I have waited so long to try this as it took me several months before I got some coarse sea salt, and it was only yesterday that I bought my first pack of fresh rosemary! You may be surprised that fresh western herbs are not as readily available here...only certain supermarket outlets carry them.


Although I have gathered several focaccia recipes over the past months, I still did a search on the internet last night, just to see whether I can find any other suitable recipes. It was with luck that I chanced upon this blog. I was totally taken over by the recipe...besides fresh rosemary it also has got garlic added to the dough! I was very sure that the bread will turn out very flavourful. Hence, I incorporated the recipe I have on hand with this one :)


As with all my first attempts, I didn't know what to expect when I was making this bread. After having kneaded the dough for close to 10mins, it seemed to be quite smooth and less sticky. However, the next minute, the dough started to stick to the work surface again! and it got more sticky the more I knead on it! I was quite sure something must be wrong somewhere, so I stopped, oiled my hands, and slowly gather the dough to form a ball and left it to proof. The dough looked very silky and shinny...very much like a roti prata dough?!

Fortunately, it doubled in size within an hour. It was not easy trying to press and smooth the sticky dough evenly onto the baking tray. I left it to rise for the second time, but after an hour, there was no clear sign of expansion, although it did looked a little puffy. As I was running out of time, I went ahead with the next step...which was the fun part...making small little holes with my fingers all over the surface, then fill the holes randomly with rosemary, and finally drizzle over the olive oil and a light sprinkling of coarse sea salt.

The scent from the rosemary and garlic while the bread was baking in the oven was incredible! When it was finally ready, I had a hard time trying to remove the bread from the tray, as it got all stuck onto the tray. It was a miracle that I didn't break the bread into pieces with my rough handling!

What can I say about the taste of this bread? I like how savoury it is, the taste is just fantastic! My better half has finally got the chance to eat this homemade focaccia bread...this is one of the couple of things that he has asked me to bake for him :)


Rosemary & Garlic Focaccia

Ingredients:

300g bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon instant or fast acting dried yeast
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves only, finely chopped
190~200ml water
1 tablespoon olive oil


for topping:
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
some coarse sea salt

Method:

1. Mix flour, salt, sugar, yeast, chopped garlic, rosemary in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add in the oil, followed by the water. Do not add all the water, leave about 10~20ml and adjust accordingly. Mix to form a soft dough.
2. On a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough for about 5 ~10mins, until it becomes smooth and silky. Flour both hands and make the dough into a round ball. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for about 1hr until it double in bulk.
3. Punch down the dough, and knead it lightly for about a minute. Press dough onto a baking tray (about 12 x 10 inches, greased). Fill in any gaps and push the dough into the corners, and patting out to make an even layer. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until almost double in height, about 45mins to 1 hr.
4. Flour or oil your fingers and press into the risen dough to make dimples, pushing you fingers deep into the dough. Press rosemary sprigs into the dimples and fill them with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degC for 20 to 25mins or until golden brown.
5. Remove bread from baking tray and drizzle with a little extra olive oil. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Bread

I finally managed to work on this pumpkin bread after a long break from bread making. Since I missed the kneading so much, I made this loaf all by hand, although the bread can be easily done entirely by the bread machine (if you omit the pumpkin seeds and egg glaze). I was attracted to this recipe when I came across the illustration of this golden round loaf in the book, Bread, Baking by Hand or Bread Machine. My replica is way too far from the original photo, as the top was almost burnt! Even though I had placed the oven rack to a lower position, the bread rose high and mighty and almost hit the heating elements that are located at the top of my small oven. Luckily, I managed to spot the slightly burnt smell, and quickly "tent" the top of the loaf with a sheet of aluminium foil.

After downloading the photos, I thought I saw "two eyes" and a "wide smile" staring back at me. Can you spot it? If not, what about this smaller one:


I find this so hilarious!! That's one of the joys of baking, isn't it?! You never know what you get until the entire thing is done!


I was expecting something dense, moist and sweet, but surprisingly, the bread was soft, light and even fluffy...and it was not sweet, it tasted almost like a plain loaf of soft white bread. There's no trace of the pumpkin at all, if not for the deep yellow hue, you wouldn't know it's made with mashed pumpkin! Nevertheless, I like the texture of the bread and the slightly crisp crust and the pumpkin seeds were very fragrant. The bread tasted good lightly toasted and buttered. I must say it's a great healthy choice of bread for breakfast :)


Ingredients

500g pumpkin, after peeled, seeded and cut into pieces
you are left with about 300g(alternatively, use 300g canned pumpkin puree)
60ml cooking liquid reserved from cooking the pumpkin or use water if using canned pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons of runny honey
500g bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
egg glaze (beat together 1 egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of milk)
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, to decorate

Method:

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pumpkin flesh and simmer until soft and cooked through, about 20 mins. Drain the pumpkin and reserve the cooking liquid.
2. Mash the pumpkin thoroughly, and sieve, or puree in a food processor or blender, about 2 mins. (I didn't sieve or puree the pumpkin as it was already very soft and fine.) Leave the pumpkin puree and the reserved cooking liquid to cool.
3. Add honey to 60ml of the cooking liquid and stir to dissolve.
4. Mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add in the instant yeast and mix well. Make a well in the centre and add in the honey liquid, followed by the pumpkin puree.
5. Mix in the flour to form a firm, coarse, sticky dough. If the mixture is too dry, gradually add one or two tablespoons of the pumpkin liquid (or water). (I added extra two tablespoons of liquid).
6. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface. Knead until very smooth, silky and elastic, about 10 mins. (I didn't stop until almost close to 20mins of kneading!)
7. Place dough in large clean bowl and cover with a tea towel or cling wrap. Leave to rise until double in size, about 1 to 1.5hrs. Knock back the dough to release the air, then leave it to rest for 10mins, covered.
8. Shape dough into a round loaf. Place on an oiled baking sheet and cover with a tea towel. (I used a round 20cm baking pan instead). Prove until double in size, about 1 hour.
9. Brush the dough with egg glaze and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
10. Bake in pre-heated oven at 220 deg C (I set mine to 200 deg C) and bake for 40mins until golden-coloured and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. Leave to cool completely before slicing.
    
    Source: adapted from Bread, Baking by Hand or Bread Machine by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno
    

Walnut & Raisins Bread

I like my close-up photos when they turn out clear and sharp. However, it is not easy for me to get nice close-up shots as I do not have a tripod. Even if I have one, I would probably be too lazy to use it! I also find it troublesome to rest my camera on tables or what nots just to take a photo. You see, I am the sort who likes to 'Do More with Less'...an extremely nice phrase to describe a simply lazy person ;) So, I rely a lot on my pair of steady hands plus the luck of having sufficient sunlight at the time when I am taking photos...naturally good close-ups are hard to come by! It was rather gloomy most of the time yesterday...but I had luck when the sun decided to peek out from the clouds while I was taking photos of my morning bake...


...a wholemeal, walnut and raisins boule. This rustic-looking bread was made based on a bread machine recipe. I used the bread machine to do the kneading, but let the dough rise in room temperature and then shaped and proof in a colander before baking it in my oven.


Yes, I used a colander as I do not have a banetton or a bread basket (see, I am trying to Do More with Less again!). I've came across a Chinese cookbook that recommends using a colander to achieve the same effect as a banetton. Too bad, I didn't dust the colander with enough flour (see, Doing More with Less doesn't apply here!) and the imprints were not really visible. This also got to do with the somewhat sticky dough. The top part of the dough got stuck to the colander when I tried to invert it onto the baking tray :'(


Nevertheless, it's a truly wholesome and healthy bread, it has got no eggs or milk...and use oil instead of butter. The bread has got a nice crispy crust, and the crumb is rather soft...not the chewy sort that you would aspect from this rustic-looking loaf. The bread is rather plain on it's own..it tasted much better when paired with some jam or butter. This definitely goes into my kids' "healthy but doesn't taste great" list ;)

Ingredients:

300g bread flour
150g wholemeal flour
300ml water
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon instant or fast-acting dry yeast
100g walnut pieces
some raisins, optional

Method:

1. Thoroughly mix together the two flours.
2. Pour water into the bread machine bucket. Add oil and half the mixed flour.
3. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Cover with the remaining flour mix and place the yeast in the centre of the flour mixture.
4. Fit the bucket into the bread machine and set to Basic function. Add walnuts/raisins when the machine bleeps. When ready, remove the loaf from the bucket and let cool completely before cutting.
5. Alternatively, you can use the Dough function to knead and rise the dough. When the Dough cycle completes, shape dough into a round ball and let it proof for the second time until double in bulk. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180deg C for 30~35 mins until the surface turns golden brown.

Recipe source: adapted from The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison

Wholemeal Bread

I've been missing from blogging for the past few days...was busy...hmmm...with doing Nothing ;) Yes, I have let my oven and bread machine a good rest while I was busy with nothing in particular...unless you count watching Korean drama on VCDs as doing something :P

I tried making kaya with the bread machine...but it was a complete flop :'( couldn't really pin point what went wrong...except I could have used coconut cream instead of coconut milk, the kaya was not smooth at all, it looked like a bowl of scramble eggs, haha! I still didn't want to throw it away though...will keep it in the fridge until there's a need to clear space for other stuff!

Was deciding whether to give the chocolate swirl bread a second attempt, but was too lazy to do anything too complicated other than a simple loaf. I made this country-style wholemeal round instead.


Presenting my first rustic loaf!

I would usually make soft sweet bread as my kids don't really like rustic kind...they find them too hard, coarse and chewy. Nevertheless, I went ahead with this as I really wanted to give rustic bread a go. It was a rather straight forward bread with very basic ingredients, there's no eggs or milk added. It is also not written anywhere in the recipe that there is a need to spray water in the oven, to create steam for the bread...something I am still a little afraid to try, as I wasn't sure whether it is necessary...since my oven comes with a function that will diffuse vapour?

I used the bread machine to knead the dough for 20mins and left it to rise in room temperature. I must say, our weather here in Singapore, with a typical room temperature of 28~30 degC plus the high humidity all year round...is really good for rising bread. The dough would usually double the size within an hour. It was very easy to shape the dough as it was not sticky at all. After punching down the dough to knock out the gas, simply give it a few knead and then lightly flatten it before shaping it into a smooth round ball. The trick here is to shape the dough as if you were filling it with some fillings, and gather all the loose ends and seal them together. Let it proof for another 30mins before dusting it with some wholemeal four and making 2 long slits (I made 4 instead! wanted to make 3 but due to my wrong judgement, got to make 4 cuts to make the dough look balance), and it is ready to send into the oven.


I pinched out 2 small dough and had a little fun decorating them. With some cookie crisps, chocolate rice and chocolate chips, my kids and I made these two cute bears or do they look more like the horlicks doggies? I actually wanted to make them into piggies, but my younger son strongly disagree with the idea! It wasn't easy to stick the cookie crisps onto the dough as it was not sticky at all, and the chocolate chips fell off the noses while the rolls were baking in the oven. The rolls expanded in the heat and pushed the chips off. I managed to "patch" them up after the rolls were cooled ;)


The crust of the bread was crisp and I really like the "look and feel" of the rustic loaf, not forgetting the smell of the bread when it was fresh out of the oven. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the crumbs were rather soft and tender, the texture was very much like a slice of wholemeal sandwich bread.

Here's the recipe for the bread which I have taken from a Japanese-Chinese translated cookbook, 面粉点心大会串.

Ingredients(makes a 20cm round bread)

150g bread flour
150g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
10g butter
170ml water

Method:

1. Place bread flour and wholemeal flour in a mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to combine. I did this by measuring both types of flour in a plastic bag and then give a few shakes to mix the flours.
2. Place all ingredients (according to the sequence as stated in your bread machine manual) in the bread pan and set the machine to the Dough setting. You can either leave the dough to proof in the machine, or let it proof in room temperature. If you are proofing the dough in room temperature, place it in a big mixing bowl, and cover it with cling wrap. Let is rise till double in bulk, takes about 1 hour.
3. Remove dough from bread machine/mixing bowl. Knock out the dough and give a few light kneading. Gently flatten the dough and shape into a smooth ball. Place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with a damp towel or plastic bag and let it proof for another 30mins. Note that this time round, instead of cling wrap, you should cover the dough with plastic bag, as the cling wrap may stick onto the dough and prevent it from rising properly.
4. Preheat oven to 180 degC. Dust with some wholemeal flour and make 2 long slits on the dough with a sharp knife. Bake for 30mins until the crust turns golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.